US President Joe Biden signed the $886.3 billion National Defense Authorization Act into law, according to a statement released by the White House.
The defense policy bill was passed by the Congress last week. The Democratic-controlled US Senate approved the legislation with a strong bipartisan majority of 87 to 13 while the House of Representatives voted in favor 310 to 118.
The bill, one of the few major pieces of legislation Congress passes every year, governs everything from pay raises for service members and purchases of ships and aircraft to policies.
The act, nearly 3,100 pages long, called for a 5.2% pay raise for service members and increased the nation's total national security budget by about 3% to $886 billion.
The bill extends one measure to help Ukraine, the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, through the end of 2026, authorizing $300 million for the program in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2024, and the next one. (QNA)
